Finally, after 2 years since filing I-485 based on marriage, I received the following email:
"This case has been approved. On October 3, 2006, an approval notice was
mailed. If 30 days have passed and you have not received this notice,
you may wish to verify or update your address. To update your address,
please speak to an Immigration Information Officer during business
hours."
For anyone with their I-485 pending, my advice is - don't move to another state, if at all possible! I filed my application in NYC in Oct 2004 and had my interview on Jan 2005 (Interviewing officer said I would have been approved that day except my name check hadn't come back). I relocated to California on March 2005. Then, it took 7 months for them to move my file to California (I got an email in Oct 2005 from CA Service Center saying they received it). Then, my file was treated as if it was filed in Oct 2005 as opposed to a year before in Oct 2004! (For purposes of the 1-800 # starting inquiry, etc.) I think if I had moved to CA first then filed, I'd have gotten the whole thing done sooner. My friend's I-485 took 5 years because she made the mistake of moving twice (NY-NJ-CA) and they actually lost her application along the way and she had to refile.
My other advice is to find that fine line between being neurotic vs. giving up. I'd go through phases of tons of impatient efforts (1-800 #, info pass, ombudsman, etc.), and then be completely annoyed and not think about it for a while. I do think contacting them and making them look at my file worked, but I think a more consistent, less frenzied approach to it would have been better for my stress level!
Good luck to everyone!
"This case has been approved. On October 3, 2006, an approval notice was
mailed. If 30 days have passed and you have not received this notice,
you may wish to verify or update your address. To update your address,
please speak to an Immigration Information Officer during business
hours."
For anyone with their I-485 pending, my advice is - don't move to another state, if at all possible! I filed my application in NYC in Oct 2004 and had my interview on Jan 2005 (Interviewing officer said I would have been approved that day except my name check hadn't come back). I relocated to California on March 2005. Then, it took 7 months for them to move my file to California (I got an email in Oct 2005 from CA Service Center saying they received it). Then, my file was treated as if it was filed in Oct 2005 as opposed to a year before in Oct 2004! (For purposes of the 1-800 # starting inquiry, etc.) I think if I had moved to CA first then filed, I'd have gotten the whole thing done sooner. My friend's I-485 took 5 years because she made the mistake of moving twice (NY-NJ-CA) and they actually lost her application along the way and she had to refile.
My other advice is to find that fine line between being neurotic vs. giving up. I'd go through phases of tons of impatient efforts (1-800 #, info pass, ombudsman, etc.), and then be completely annoyed and not think about it for a while. I do think contacting them and making them look at my file worked, but I think a more consistent, less frenzied approach to it would have been better for my stress level!
Good luck to everyone!
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